February 22, 2006

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Dave,

There you go again perpetuating false notions....

The 'sale' of six ports to Dubai Ports World does NOT mean the new 'owner' then manages security. Security will still be conducted by the Coast Guard, customs, and port authority. That's all U.S. control. Labor for the port is union labor. So longshoremen, U.S. longshoremen, will still drive and operate equipment in performance of dock duties. Basically what we're talking about here is a new company coming in that bought some terminal space. Different company name on the signs, money will be drawn from a different bank to cut checks, a different company reaping profits, but other than that, nothing really changes.

But Sickofspin, all that can be altered with a free trade deal between US and UAE - that's the whole point. And that's the inherent risk with free trade - it trumps all other considerations, whether labor, environmental, public health, OR NATIONAL SECURITY !!

This is cronyism at its rawest.

Posted by: Sammy J. at February 22, 2006 5:27 PM

But Sickofspin, all that can be altered with a free trade deal between US and UAE - that's the whole point. And that's the inherent risk with free trade - it trumps all other considerations, whether labor, environmental, public health, OR NATIONAL SECURITY !!

This is corporate cronyism at its rawest.

Posted by: Sammy J. at February 22, 2006 5:28 PM

Sammy J.

You couldn't be more wrong. Security doesn't change, the Coast Guard still does its thing, the Customs agents still do their thing, the port authority still does their thing, the longshoremen do their thing......they don't care who leases terminals..... They're still going to do their job. Security is not an issue in this transaction. Shame of you for falsely inserting it.

Ha! Yeah, there's this "free trade" problem, and it's bothersome. What lies even deeper behind our current problem, though, is that the US maritime service is moribund and has been since about 1956! This is a cyclical problem the US has faced several times in the past. Since only about 4% of US shipping is done by US ships, thus 96% on foreign ships, it's been considered "only natural" that foreign countries own or at least manage the US piers. And we wonder why establishing port security has been so amazingly slow in developing. We have no control over it anyway. We're outsourcing control over our national security.